There could be fewer than 50,000 koalas left in the wild, according to an estimate released to pressure the Federal Government into listing the animal as a threatened species. Australian Koala Foundation scientists estimate that the koala population has fallen from about 100,000 earlier this decade to between 43,000 and 80,000.

Caturday - Felis margarita Edition

After 63 days of gestation, a rare Sand Cat Kitten was born at Israel’s Zoological Center Tel Aviv Ramat Gan - Safari. Once plentiful in numbers in the dunes of Israel, the Sand Cat has become extinct in the region. This is Safari Zoo’s first successful Sand Cat birth and it is hoped this kitten will join Israel’s Sand Cat Breeding Program in order to help reintroduce the species into the wild. Photos by: Mats Ellting

Zoo Vienna's newest Panda cub, now two months old, is a healthy male. His eyes recently opened and he's becoming more active. Says Zoo Director Dagmar Schratter, "The baby panda cannot crawl yet. He manages to push himself away from the floor only to fall over immediately and to tumble back into the soft bamboo nest." See more: http://www.zooborns.com/zooborns/2013/10/panda-zoo-vienna.html

It's not easy rewilding a giant panda (but someone's got to do it)

Is a panda cub fooled by a panda suit? That’s the hope at Wolong’s Hetaoping center, where captive-bred bears training for life in the wild are kept relatively sheltered from human contact, even during a rare hands-on checkup